Patent Grant
11578538
Cutting elements used in down-hole drilling operations are often made with a super hard material layer to penetrate hard and abrasive earthen formations. For example, cutting elements may be mounted to drill bits (e.g., rotary drag bits), such as by brazing, for use in a drilling operation.
Super hard material layers of a cutting element may be formed under high temperature and pressure conditions, usually in a press apparatus designed to create such conditions, cemented to a carbide substrate containing a metal binder or catalyst such as cobalt. For example, polycrystalline diamond (PCD) is a super hard material used in the manufacture of cutting elements, where PCD cutters typically comprise diamond material formed on a supporting substrate (typically a cemented tungsten carbide (WC) substrate) and bonded to the substrate under high temperature, high pressure (HTHP) conditions.
A PCD cutting element may be fabricated by placing a cemented carbide substrate into a container or cartridge with a layer of diamond crystals or grains loaded into the cartridge adjacent one face of the substrate. A number of such cartridges are typically loaded into a reaction cell and placed in the HPHT apparatus. The substrates and adjacent diamond grain layers are then compressed under HPHT conditions which promotes a sintering of the diamond grains to form a polycrystalline diamond structure. As a result, the diamond grains become mutually bonded to form a diamond layer over the substrate interface. The diamond layer is also bonded to the substrate interface.
Such cutting elements are often subjected to intense forces, torques, vibration, high temperatures and temperature differentials during operation. As a result, stresses within the structure may begin to form. Drag bits for example may exhibit stresses aggravated by drilling anomalies during well boring operations such as bit whirl or bounce often resulting in spalling, delamination or fracture of the super hard material layer or the substrate thereby reducing or eliminating the cutting elements efficacy and decreasing overall drill bit wear life.
This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to cutting elements having a cutting face at an opposite axial end from a base, a side surface extending from the base to the cutting face, an edge formed at the intersection between the cutting face and the side surface, and an elongated protrusion formed at the cutting face and extending between opposite sides of the edge, wherein the elongated protrusion has a geometry including a border extending around a concave surface and sloped surfaces extending between the border and the edge, and wherein the concave surface has a major axis dimension measured between opposite sides of the border and a minor axis dimension measured perpendicularly to the major axis dimension and ranging from 50 percent to 99 percent of the major axis dimension.
In another aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to downhole cutting tools that include a plurality of blades extending outwardly from a body, a plurality of cutting elements disposed in pockets formed along a blade cutting edge of each of the plurality of blades, a cutting profile formed by an outline of the plurality of cutting elements mounted to the plurality of blades when rotated into a single plane, wherein at least one of the cutting elements is a directional cutting element having a cutting face with an elongated protrusion extending linearly along a major axis dimension and an edge formed around the cutting face at an intersection between the cutting face and a side surface of the directional cutting element, wherein an exposed portion of the edge forming part of the cutting profile extends a partial arc length around the edge, and wherein the directional cutting element is rotationally oriented within one of the pockets such that the major axis dimension intersects with a midpoint of the partial arc length.
In another aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods including preparing a cutting profile of a downhole tool having a plurality of blades extending outwardly from a body and a plurality of cutting elements disposed in pockets formed along a blade cutting edge of each of the blades, wherein the cutting profile includes an outline of the cutting elements when rotated into a single plane view, determining an exposed area on a cutting face of at least one of the cutting elements in the cutting profile, wherein the exposed area on the cutting face is nonoverlapping with adjacent cutting elements in the cutting profile when rotated into the single plane view, defining a rolling rake axis extending radially outward from a longitudinal axis of the at least one cutting element based at least in part on the exposed area, orienting a directional cutting element on the downhole tool, wherein the directional cutting element has at least one protrusion spaced azimuthally around an edge of the cutting face, and wherein one of the at least one protrusion aligns with the rolling rake axis.
In yet another aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods including determining radial forces on a plurality of cutting elements disposed on a blade of a cutting tool, wherein the cutting elements have at least one protrusion formed on a cutting face of the cutting element and wherein the radial forces include an outward radial force in a direction from a rotational axis of the cutting tool toward the outer diameter of the cutting tool and an inward radial force in an opposite direction from the outward radial force, calculating a net radial force on each of the cutting elements, wherein the net radial force equals the sum of the outward radial force and the inward radial force on each cutting element, adding the net radial force of the plurality of cutting elements to calculate a blade net radial force, and reducing the blade net radial force by rotating at least one of the plurality of cutting elements.
Other aspects and advantages of the claimed subject matter will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.
In one aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to directional cutting elements (which may also be referred to as directional cutters) and their orientation on a cutting tool. As used herein, a directional cutting element may include a cutting element having a cutting face with varied surface geometry around its perimeter. The varied surface geometry may generate different cutting forces when contacting a working surface depending on the rotational orientation of the cutting face with respect to the working surface. Thus, cutting efficiency and performance of directional cutting elements may be rotationally dependent on their orientation on a cutting tool. In another aspect, embodiments disclosed herein relate to optimization of the rotational orientation of directional cutting elements (and the directional geometries formed on their cutting face) on downhole cutting tools.
Further, the directional cutting element 100 may be formed of an ultrahard material table 103 (e.g., a diamond table) disposed on a substrate 105, where the cutting face 110 is formed on the ultrahard material table 103. The ultrahard material layer or table 103 may be formed under high temperature and high-pressure conditions, usually in a high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) press apparatus designed to create such conditions, and attached to the substrate 105 (e.g., a cemented carbide substrate such as cemented tungsten carbide containing a metal binder or catalyst such as cobalt). The substrate is often less hard than the ultrahard material to which it is bound. Some examples of ultrahard materials include cemented ceramics, diamond, polycrystalline diamond, and cubic boron nitride.
An elongated protrusion 120 is a raised elongated shape formed along the cutting face 110, raised an axial height 122 from an axially lowest point 107 around the edge 106 of the cutting element 100 to an axially tallest point 124 of the cutting face 110, where the axially lowest point 107 (or points) refers to the point axially closest to the base 102 of the cutting element 100, and the axially tallest point 124 (or points) refers to the point axially farthest from the base 102 of the cutting element 100. In the embodiment shown, the axially tallest points 124 of the cutting face 110 may be at opposite ends of the elongated protrusion 120, where a top surface 123 of the elongated protrusion 120 is concave and slopes from the tallest points 124 in a downward axial direction toward the base 102 and in a radially inward direction toward the longitudinal axis 101. Further, in the embodiment shown, the edge 106 extends around the cutting face 110 at the same axial distance from the base 102, and thus, is at the same axially lowest point 107 around the entire edge 106. The axially tallest points 124 of the cutting face 110 extend a height above the axially lowest point of the concave top surface 123 that is less than or equal to the axial height 122. That is, the axially lowest point of the concave top surface 123 may be axially at the same level as the axially lowest point 107 around the edge 106. In some embodiments, the axially lowest point of the concave top surface 123 range from between 1 percent to 100 percent, between 5 percent to 50 percent, or between 10 percent to 30 percent of the axial height 122.
The elongated protrusion 120 may extend a linear distance 125 along a major axis 126 and between opposite sides 106a, 106b of the edge 106. The elongated protrusion 120 may also have a width 127 measured along a minor axis 128, where the minor axis 128 is perpendicular to the major axis 126. Both the major axis 126 and the minor axis 128 may be transverse to the longitudinal axis 101 of the cutting element 100. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the width 127 of the elongated protrusion 120 may range between 50 percent and 99 percent of the linear distance 125, e.g., between 60 percent and 90 percent of the linear distance 125, between 65 percent and 80 percent of the linear distance 125, and other subranges thereof.
The geometry of the elongated protrusion 120 may further be described in terms of the shape of its top surface 123 geometry. The top surface 123 of an elongated protrusion 120 may be a concave surface defined by a border 129, which may be a transition or sharp change in slope from the top surface 123 slope. For example, in the embodiment shown in
For clarity in use of terms, the sloped surfaces 140, the face chamfer 130 and the top surface 123 each form part of the cutting face 120. For example, in the embodiment of
Further, in the embodiment shown, the border 129 around the top surface 123 of the elongated protrusion 120 is in the shape of an ellipse. However, in some embodiments, an elongated protrusion may have a border defining a top surface that is in the shape of a diamond or other shape with linear extensions extending outwardly from a central region (e.g., a multi-point star shape).
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a concave surface forming a top surface of an elongated protrusion may provide the cutting element with a front rake angle ranging from 5 to 45 degrees, where a front rake angle is measured between a radial plane perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the cutting element and a tangent line to the concave surface proximate to the edge of the cutting element.
For example,
In embodiments having a face chamfer formed around the concave surface, such as shown in
The concave top surface 123 shown in the embodiment in
A face chamfer 330 is formed around the border 329 of the concave surface 320, where the border 329 is formed by the intersection of the concave surface 320 and the face chamfer 330. The border 329 formed at the transition between the concave surface 320 and the face chamfer 330 may be an angled or radiused point of inflection between the concave surface 320 and the face chamfer 330.
An edge chamfer 340 is formed interior to and around the entire edge 306 of the cutting element 300, where the intersection of the edge chamfer 340 and the side surface 304 form the edge 306. In some embodiments, a cutting face may have an edge chamfer formed partially around the edge (less than the entire edge) or may be without an edge chamfer around the edge. In some embodiments, the edge chamfer 340 may have a uniform size around the entire edge 306.
Sloped surfaces 350 extend between the face chamfer 330 and the edge chamfer 340 along a slope extending in a radially outward direction from a longitudinal axis 301 of the cutting element 300 and in an axially downward direction from the face chamfer 330 toward the base 302. The sloped surfaces 350 may intersect with the face chamfer 330 at an outer perimeter 332 of the face chamfer 330 and may intersect with the edge chamfer 340 at an inner perimeter 342 of the edge chamfer 340. Further, the sloped surfaces 350 may intersect with the face chamfer 330 and/or edge chamfer 340 at angled or radiused transitions. Although the face chamfer 330 and edge chamfer 340 may also slope in the same general direction as the sloped surfaces 350, the sloped surfaces 350 may have a different slope value than each of the face chamfer 330 and edge chamfer 340. For example, the sloped surfaces 350 may have a relatively steeper slope than the face chamfer 330 and a relatively shallower slope than the edge chamfer 340, when the slopes are drawn along a coordinate system with the longitudinal axis 301 as the y-axis and a radial plane 303 (perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 301) as the x-axis.
A front rake angle 360 is measured between the radial plane 303 and a tangent line 323 to the concave surface 320 proximate to the edge 306 of the cutting element 300. The tangent line 323 extends tangent to the concave surface 320 from the location 324 along the border 329 of the concave surface 320 that is proximate to but separated from the edge 306 by the face chamfer 330 and the edge chamfer 340. Further, the tangent line 323 intersects the longitudinal axis 301 and is coplanar with the major axis 326. In the embodiment shown, the front rake angle 360 formed along the major axis 326 by the concave surface 320 may range from about 5 degrees to about 25 degrees, e.g., a 10-degree front rake angle, a 20-degree front rake angle, or other value selected within such range.
The cutting element 300 shown in
As used herein, terms referring to the rotational orientation of a cutting element 300 may be used to describe how the cutting element 300 is set on a tool rotationally about its longitudinal axis 301. For example, a cutting element 300 may be positioned on a tool at a base rotational orientation, and may optionally be attached at the base rotational orientation such as by brazing and/or mechanical attachment, or the cutting element 300 may be rotated around its longitudinal axis 301 to a subsequent rotational orientation and attached to the tool at the subsequent rotational orientation.
Another example of a directional cutting element 400 according to embodiments of the present disclosure is shown in
In addition to the concave surface 420, the cutting face 410 may also include a face chamfer 430 formed around the border 429 of the concave surface 420, an edge chamfer 440 formed interior to and around the entire edge 406 of the cutting element 400, and sloped surfaces 450 sloping from an outer perimeter 432 of the face chamfer 430 in a downward axial direction (toward the base 402) and a radially outward direction (toward the side surface 404) to an inner perimeter 442 of the edge chamfer 440. The sloped surfaces 450 may intersect with the outer perimeter 432 of the face chamfer 430 and the inner perimeter 442 of the edge chamfer 440 at angled or radiused transitions. Further, the face chamfer 430, edge chamfer 440, and sloped surfaces 450 may slope in the same general direction but have different slope values. For example, the sloped surfaces 450 may have a relatively steeper slope than the face chamfer 430 and a relatively shallower slope than the edge chamfer 440, when the slopes are drawn along a coordinate system with the longitudinal axis 401 as the y-axis and a radial plane 403 (perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 401) as the x-axis.
A front rake angle 460 is measured between the radial plane 403 and a tangent line 423 to the concave surface 420 proximate to the edge 406 of the cutting element 400, where the tangent line 423 intersects the longitudinal axis 401. When oriented to contact a working surface along the major axis 426, the contacting front rake angle 460 may be defined by the tangent line 423 extending tangent to the concave surface 420 from the location 424 at the border 429 and along the major axis 426 that is proximate to but separated from the edge 406 by the face chamfer 430 and the edge chamfer 440. At location 424, the face chamfer 430 may intersect with the edge chamfer 440. In the embodiment shown, the front rake angle 460 formed along the major axis 426 by the concave surface 420 may range from about 5 degrees to about 25 degrees, e.g., a 10-degree front rake angle, a 20-degree front rake angle, or other value selected within such range.
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, directional cutting elements (e.g., directional cutting elements 200, 300, 400 shown in
Initially, when designing a downhole tool, such as a fixed cutter drill bit (e.g., shown in
As shown in
Methods of the present disclosure may include determining a base rotational orientation of a directional cutting element 525 on a downhole tool 500. For example, an initial downhole tool design may include one or more directional cutting elements 525 rotationally oriented on a blade 510 in a base rotational orientation, such that the major axis 528 of a protruded feature formed on the cutting face 526 of the cutting element 525 is orthogonal to the blade profile 512. The directional cutting element 525 may then be rotated about its longitudinal axis an adjusted profile angle to an aligned rotational orientation on the downhole tool 500, either in the design stage (where the cutting element rotation may be simulated) or on a real/physical downhole tool. Rotational changes of one or more directional cutting elements 525 on a downhole tool 500 may be simulated, for example, in the same simulation used for generating the cutting profile 530. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a directional cutting element 525 may be rotated an adjusted profile angle ranging from about 3 degrees to about 30 degrees from a base rotational orientation.
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, an adjusted profile rolling rake angle 670 may be selected based on an exposed area of a cutting element's cutting face 526 along a cutting profile 530 of the downhole tool 500 on which the cutting element 525 is disposed. As discussed herein, the term “geometry of cut” may be used to describe the exposed area of the cutting face 526 of a cutting element that encounters the formation based on the arrangement of other cutting elements along a cutting profile 700. For example,
In methods of the present disclosure, an exposed area on a cutting face of a directional cutting element in a cutting profile may be determined, and the exposed area may be used to define a rolling rake axis extending radially outward from a longitudinal axis of the directional cutting element and through a middle of the exposed area (e.g., geometry of cut). For example,
Further, by simulating the cutting element in a cutting profile (e.g., such as a cutting profile 700 shown in
In some embodiments, the middle of an exposed area (and thus rolling rake axis) may be defined by dividing the exposed area into axi-equivalent halves. For example,
In some embodiments, a rolling rake axis may be defined using a force balancing equation, where radial forces on the cutting element from the clockwise and counterclockwise direction are balanced when the cutting element interfaces with the formation. Because radial forces acting on a cutting element may vary at different depths of cut, a rolling rake axis may be defined using a force balancing equation at one or more given depths of cut. For example, a first directional cutting element at a first position along a downhole cutting tool may be predicted to interface with a formation at a first depth of cut, while a second directional cutting element at a different, second position along the downhole cutting tool may be predicted to interface with the formation at a different, second depth of cut. In such case, a rolling rake axes for the first and second directional cutting elements may be determined using force balancing equations at different depths of cut.
As another example, a directional cutting element at a position along a downhole cutting tool may be predicted to interface with a formation at a first depth of cut while the downhole tool is in operation under a first set of conditions (e.g., rotational speed, weight on bit, type of formation being drilled, etc.), and the directional cutting element may be predicted to interface with the formation at a different, second depth of cut while the downhole tool is in operation under a different, second set of conditions. In some embodiments, a force balance equation at each of the first and second depths of cut may be used to determine a rolling rake axis for each depth of cut. Further, in some embodiments, a directional cutting element may be in an aligned rotational orientation with a rolling rake axis determined for a first set of conditions at a first depth of cut, and the directional cutting element may be rotated and reoriented in an aligned rotational orientation with a rolling rake axis determined for a different, second set of conditions at a second depth of cut.
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the rolling rake axis 1040, 1042 of a directional cutting element 1000 may be rotated to an aligned rotational orientation where one or more types of forces acting on the directional cutting element 1000 are minimized. For example, the rolling rake axes 1040, 1042 may be determined at least in part from simulated and/or calculated radial forces 1070, 1072, 1074, 1076 on the cutting element 1000. As shown in
As shown in
When defining a rolling rake axis 1040, 1042, the outward and inward radial forces 1070, 1072, 1074, 1076 may be calculated by determining an exposed area 1030 (e.g., geometry of cut) on the cutting face of the cutting element 1000 and determining the radial forces 1070, 1072, 1074, 1076 acting on the exposed area 1030. The rolling rake axes 1040, 1042 may be defined as the radial line from the longitudinal axis 1001 of the cutting element through the exposed area 1030 having balanced radial forces across the radial line. In some embodiments, additional forces may be included in a force balancing equation (e.g., cutting forces 1080 (which may sometimes be referred to as tangential force) and/or vertical forces 1090) to determine a rolling rake axis orientation along which the forces on either side of the rolling rake axis are balanced. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, balancing forces on either side of a rolling rake axis 1040, 1042 may include rotating the rolling rake axis to a position where the type of force of interest (e.g., cutting force, vertical force, and/or radial force) is equal in value, or closer to equal in value than prior to rotating, on either side of the rolling rake axis 1040, 1042.
A rolling rake axis 1040 defined from a force balancing equation may be the same as if defined through a middle of the exposed area 1030, such as shown in
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, force balancing may be performed on a cutting element level and on a cutting tool level. For example,
Referring to
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, cutting elements having a three-dimensionally shaped cutting face (e.g., directional cutting elements 1000 in
For example, force balancing calculations for individual directional cutting elements 1101, 1102, 1103 may include determining radial forces 1110, 1120 acting on the cutting elements (e.g., the radial forces acting on a three dimension cutting face along the geometry of cut on a cutting element), including determining outward radial forces 1111, 1112, 1113 (radial forces in a direction from a rotational axis 1201 of the bit 1200 toward an outer diameter 1202 of the bit 1200) and inward radial forces 1121, 1122, 1123 (radial forces in an opposite direction from the outward radial forces 1111, 1112, 1113, from the outer diameter 1202 of the bit 1200 toward the rotational axis 1201 of the bit 1200). The outward radial forces 1111, 1112, 1113 and inward radial forces 1121, 1122, 1123 may be added to calculate a net radial force on the directional cutting elements 1101, 1102, 1103. Balancing outward radial forces 1111, 1112, 1113 with inward radial forces 1121, 1122, 1123 may include rotating the individual directional cutting elements 1101, 1102, 1103 to where the net radial force acting on each directional cutting element 1101, 1102, 1103 may be minimized, at which position the rolling rake axis 1131, 1132, 1133 of the cutting elements 1101, 1102, 1103 may be considered in an aligned rotational orientation. Further, balancing outward radial forces 1111, 1112, 1113 and inward radial forces 1121, 1122, 1123 may result in a non-zero net radial force on each directional cutting element 1101, 1102, 1103, where a balanced non-zero net radial force may be smaller than the net radial force prior to balancing.
Referring to
In some embodiments, directional cutting elements 1100 on a blade 1210 may be rotationally oriented to have a non-zero blade net radial force that counters non-zero blade net radial forces on the remaining blades 1212, 1214, 1216, 1218 of the bit 1200. In embodiments having other types of cutting elements with a three-dimensionally shaped cutting face (e.g., having one or more protrusions formed on the cutting face) and/or other types of bladed downhole cutting tools, the cutting elements may likewise be rotationally oriented to generate non-zero blade net radial forces during operation, such that the blade net radial forces of the blades on the bladed downhole cutting tool are counter-balanced. For example, in bladed downhole cutting tools (e.g., bit 1200) having blades (e.g., 1210) axi-symmetrically positioned around the tool, cutting elements (e.g., cutting elements 1100) may be rotationally oriented to generate non-zero blade net radial forces during operation that are substantially equal, such that the blade net radial force on each blade (e.g., blades 1210, 1212, 1214, 1216, 1218) counter-balance each other. By counter-balancing the blade net radial forces on a bladed downhole cutting tool (e.g., bit 1200), the bit net radial force may be balanced to have a zero or near-zero bit net radial force.
In addition, or alternatively, force balancing on the individual cutting element level and/or bit level may include calculating and minimizing a vertical force 1141, 1142, 1143 (collectively referred to as vertical force 1140) on the directional cutting elements 1100. Vertical force 1140 due to a weight-on-bit (WOB) during operation may be applied on each directional cutting element 1100 of the bit 1200 on which the cutting elements 1100 are disposed. Thus, the sum of the vertical forces 1140 on each directional cutting element 1100 in the bit 1200 may be equal to the WOB for cutting a rock formation.
As shown in
In embodiments where force balancing includes both vertical force and radial force balancing, the directional cutting elements 1101, 1102, 1103 may be rotated to a rotational orientation to where the vertical force 1141, 1142, 1143 is minimized as much as can be without significantly compromising a bit net radial force of zero or near zero.
In addition, or alternatively, force balancing on the individual directional cutting element level and/or bit level may include calculating and minimizing a cutting force 1150 on the directional cutting elements 1100. Referring to
Force balancing the cutting force on other types of cutting elements having a three-dimensional cutting face (e.g., cutting elements 20a, 20b, 20c, 20d, or other types of cutting elements having one or more protrusions formed on the cutting face) and/or for other types of bladed downhole cutting tools may similarly include rotating the cutting elements to an aligned rotational orientation, where the cutting force during operation is lower than if the cutting element was not in the aligned rotational orientation.
In embodiments where force balancing includes cutting force minimization in addition to vertical force minimization and/or radial force balancing, the directional cutting elements 1101, 1102, 1103 may be rotated to a rotational orientation to where the cutting force 1151, 1152, 1153 may be minimized as much as can be without significantly compromising vertical force 1140 minimization and/or without significantly compromising a bit net radial force of zero or near zero.
Forces on a cutting element 1100 (e.g., radial forces 1110, 1120, vertical forces 1140, and/or cutting forces 1150) may be calculated, for example, by simulating the cutting element on a cutting tool as it cuts a formation.
According to embodiments of the present disclosure, directional cutting elements may be rotationally oriented on a downhole tool so that the cutting faces (e.g., 800, 900) are in an aligned rotational orientation corresponding to predicted exposed areas of the cutting faces in the downhole tool cutting profile. As used herein, an aligned rotational orientation may refer to the rotational orientation of a cutting element when a major axis (e.g., 820, 920) of a protrusion (810, 910) on the cutting face is aligned with a rolling rake axis (840, 940).
For example, methods of designing a downhole tool may include 1) generating a cutting profile (e.g., 700 in
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, methods of designing and/or manufacturing a downhole tool may include initially aligning a major axis of one or more directional cutting elements with a rolling rake axis. As an example of such embodiments, a cutting profile of a downhole tool may be generated using cutting element blanks, i.e., cutting elements having no defined cutting face geometry. An exposed area on the cutting faces of the cutting element blanks may be determined from the cutting profile. In some embodiments, a rolling rake axis may be drawn extending radially outward from a longitudinal axis of at least one cutting element and through a middle of the exposed area on the cutting element. In some embodiments, the rolling rake axis may be drawn based at least in part on analysis of forces on the exposed area (e.g., geometry of cut) upon interaction of the cutting element with the formation. That is, the rolling rake axis may be determined such that vertical contact forces on the cutting element are reduced and radial cutting forces about the longitudinal axis of the cutting element are balanced.
Directional cutting elements oriented in an aligned rotational orientation on a downhole tool according to embodiments disclosed herein may include cutting faces (e.g., 800, 900) having a protrusion (e.g., 810, 910) that is an elongated protrusion extending linearly along a major axis (e.g., 820, 920) dimension between opposite sides of an edge (e.g., 802, 902) of the cutting element. Other directional cutting elements that may be oriented on downhole tools in an aligned rotational orientation according to the methods disclosed herein may include, for example, cutting faces that have one or more protrusions spaced azimuthally around the edge of the cutting element which may or may not extend through the longitudinal axis of the cutting element and/or cutting faces that have one or more protrusions with a convex or planar top surface. Some examples of directional cutting elements that may be oriented to an aligned rotational orientation according to methods of the present disclosure may include cutting elements disclosed in U.S. Publication No. 2018/0334860, which is incorporated herein by reference. Examples of directional cutting elements that may be oriented to an aligned rotational orientation according to methods of the present disclosure may also include cutting elements having a cutting face with an elongated protrusion having multiple linear extensions extending from a central region of the cutting face toward azimuthally spaced locations around the edge of the cutting face.
By orienting directional cutting elements on a downhole tool according to methods disclosed herein in an aligned rotational orientation, the forces acting on the exposed areas of the directional cutting elements during operation may be reduced enough to influence the rate of penetration of the downhole tool. Further, conventional types of directional cutting elements as well as directional cutting elements according to embodiments of the present disclosure may have improved performance when mounted to a downhole tool according to such methods disclosed herein. For example,
Individually, the vertical force on the second type of directional cutting element 20b dropped from an 8 percent change when rotationally oriented at an offset to a−10 percent change when rotationally oriented at an aligned rotational orientation; the vertical force on the third type of directional cutting element 20c dropped from a 52 percent change when rotationally oriented at an offset to a 42 percent change when rotationally oriented at an aligned rotational orientation; and the vertical force on the fourth type of directional cutting element 20d minimally increased from a−27 percent change when rotationally oriented at an offset to a−26 percent change when rotationally oriented at an aligned rotational orientation.
Further, as represented by the data shown in
For example,
By using methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure that include determining a rolling rake axis of a directional cutting element and orienting the directional cutting element in an aligned rotational orientation with the rolling rake axis, directional cutting elements that have relatively higher sensitivity to the rolling rake effect may be selected for use on a downhole tool and have improved performance. Conversely, in some embodiments, selection of a directional cutting element having low sensitivity to the rolling rake effect may be beneficial in circumstances when failure of an adjacent cutting element on a downhole tool cutting profile alters the exposed area on a directional cutting element (and thus the rolling rake axis of the directional cutting element). In some embodiments, a first directional cutting element is oriented in a respective first aligned rotational orientation based on a cutting profile, and a second directional cutting element is oriented in a respective second aligned rotational orientation based on the cutting profile, the first aligned rotational orientation is different than the second aligned rotational orientation, and neither aligned rotational orientation is orthogonal to the blade profile. That is, the aligned rotational orientation of cutting elements of a downhole tool may be determined for each cutting element based on the cutting profile. Various factors, such as spiraling, cutting element quantity, size of downhole tool, and position (e.g., nose, cone, shoulder) of the cutting element, among others, may affect the cutting profile.
Further, by using some types of directional cutting elements disclosed herein, an improved formation removal rate from improved cutting tip endurance and cutting efficiency may be achieved. For example,
In the graph showing the formation removal rate under same conditions, the fifth type of directional cutting element 28e showed the greatest formation removal rate, the third type of directional cutting element 28c showed the second greatest formation removal rate, the second type of directional cutting element 28b showed the third greatest formation removal rate, the first type of directional cutting element 28a showed the fourth greatest formation removal rate, and the fourth type of directional cutting element 28d showed the lowest formation removal rate.
Various methods of manufacturing the shaped cutting elements having elongated protrusions with elliptical- or diamond-shaped top surfaces and as otherwise described herein are known. In some embodiments, elements may be manufactured to a near net shape and used as-pressed (e.g., where the can or mold, in which the element is formed, defines the geometries set out in this application and only surface finishing, if any, is performed). In some embodiments, such elements may be manufactured with a general shape that is then modified (e.g., where a standard cylindrical cutter is formed, then the shape is created via machining or laser cutting to achieve the geometries set out in this application followed by surface finishing). That is, the modification changes the cutter shape from the as-pressed shape.
For a testing sample, standard cylindrical cutting elements were formed. The diamond tables were removed, forming polycrystalline diamond disks. The diamond disks were divided into 2 sub-groups, with each sub-group having 8-10 disks. One sub-group maintained the as-pressed surface. Another sub-group was modified by laser cutting (e.g., the same parameter that could be used when forming shapes as disclosed herein) to remove 0.005″ of the top surface of the polycrystalline diamond disk. The transverse rupture strength was evaluated by the ball-on-ring testing method, details of which can be found in Shetty, et al “Biaxial Flexure Tests for Ceramics”, Am. Cer. Soc. Bull., 59 [12] 1193-97 (1980). Both groups of disks were subjected to the same testing setup while loading the surface of interest in tension until failure. The as-pressed surface was shown to have an approximately 25% improvement in transverse rupture strength.
In another testing sample, cutting elements having elongated protrusions with elliptical- or diamond-shaped top surfaces as described in this application were manufactured as as-pressed elements and as laser cut elements. Both the as-pressed elements and laser cut elements had the same geometry. That is, the as-pressed elements were formed to a near net shape with the elongated protrusions, and the laser cut elements were first formed with larger geometry, then a laser cutting process removed material from the cutting elements to form the elongated protrusions. The as-pressed elements were finished in preparation for testing by grit blasting to remove the can material and then OD ground and chamfered. The top surface of the as-pressed element was not finished in any way other than the grit blasting. In some embodiments, the as-pressed element may be formed to a near net shape, then grit blasted, OD ground, and chamfered to the net shape. The laser cut elements were formed as a general shape, grit blasted to remove the can material, OD ground and chamfered, and a laser was used to cut the same shape as the as-pressed elements. The impact strength of the elements were tested by impacting the 10 as-pressed elements and 10 laser cut elements against a hardened steel plate until failure, up to a maximum of 30 impacts, on each individual element. This test was performed at a 20 degree back rake angle and with an impact energy of 50J. The impact resistance of the as-pressed element was significantly improved, suggesting that the as-pressed elements have significantly higher impact resistance when shock and vibration is encountered. More specifically, the as-pressed elements endured 20% more impact hits than the laser cut elements, and at the same time, the deviation was reduced about 25%.
In addition to the shock and vibration resistance previously mentioned, the combined impact and flexural strength data give strong evidence that the as-pressed element having elongated protrusions with elliptical- or diamond-shaped top surfaces as described in this application will be more resistant to processes which involve a crack initiation process such as low and high cycle fatigue, thus improving the life of the cutter. While it is believed these benefits can be observed with embodiments according to the present disclosure, other non-planar shapes may see similar impact and flexural strength improvements when compared to similar shapes made by laser cutting.
Thus, by using directional cutting elements according to embodiments disclosed herein, for example, directional cutting elements having elongated protrusions with elliptical- or diamond-shaped top surfaces, improved cutting efficiency and durability of the cutting element may be achieved.
While the present disclosure has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments may be devised which do not depart from the scope of the disclosure as described herein. Accordingly, the scope of the disclosure should be limited only by the attached claims.
This application claims the benefit of, and priority to, U.S. Patent Application No. 62/959,036 filed on Jan. 9, 2020, and U.S. Patent Application No. 62/985,632 filed on Mar. 5, 2020, which are both incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
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